Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her “power” to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he’s claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay’s intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she’s falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.

If I had to sum this review up in one word, that word would be ‘refreshing’. It was pretty awesome to read a new YA that implements a creative writing style and a very interesting plot and story line. I was sent this book last year from HarperTeen, and I devoured it in one day of reading and the story and characters have stuck with me all this while.

With the imminent release I today pre-ordered my hard copy to have on my shelf. The cover art is gorgeous, there is no person, place or thing there to distract me. I got to know the characters in the book in my own way. Kimberly gives you a basis to go on and your imagination can take you on the rest of the journey.

The two main characters Violet, and Jay are so fun. Through-out the book you are practically mentally screaming at them “HE LIKES YOU VIOLET” or “SHE LIKES YOU JAY”. Violet grew up a bit traumatized from finding a body of a girl her age in the woods when she was a small child. Her family and friends looked the other way as she went into the woods behind her house hearing echos of animals and bringing them home to bury properly.

Violet can also sense an echo on the murderer. Most people have some sort of echo attached to them, the more violent the death they caused (I assume even running over a squirrel would mark you) the louder the echo becomes. So when girls start going missing, Violet takes it upon herself to find the killer by looking for their fresh and distinct echos.

The book is fast paced, very fun, as I said refreshing. If you like mysteries, a little fun romance, and a good YA read then I urge you to pick this up.

Photo by: Alex Hoerner

1. Bookalicio.us: I have to say you have Southern people described to the letter. Are either of you Southern or have family that lives in the South? As I was reading I was fascinated with how much your book took me home to my teen years in Saltville Virginia (The Salt Capitol of the Confederacy).

   Kami: My family is originally from a small town in North Carolina, so I grew up with three generations of women (two Southern) living under one roof. I have a deep affection for the eccentricities of the South, and still go to see my mom in North Carolina every summer. Margie’s family is originally from a tiny town, though not in the South, and I think our shared stories from casserole counties are what made us want to set our story in Gatlin, SC. Even if it isn’t the Salt Capitol of the Confederacy!

2. Bookalicio.us: I often wondered through out the book why you chose Ethan as opposed to Lena as the main character. The more I read the more I was confused about that, but the more I read the more I loved the fact you did so. It was a breath of fresh air in the paranormal YA assortment.

   Margie: You have to remember, we originally wrote this story on a dare from seven teenagers, who read our pages nightly and weekly as we wrote them. So we weren’t really thinking about anything other than what they would want to read. They were powerful, strong, individualistic teenage girls – except for our one Caster Boy! – and we wanted to give them a story where the girl was the powerful, mysterious supernatural, and the boy had to unravel her mystery, find his way to her. Also, I think we also wanted to give them something they hadn’t read before.

3. Bookalicio.us: The Character of Lena’s Uncle was an amazingly thought out addition to the story. I can’t go into too much detail of how you as the authors used his character for some plot twists without giving spoilers, I wanted to ask how you fleshed him out the way you did.

   Kami: Lena’s Uncle Macon is one of our favorite characters, and an important counterpoint to some of the smaller-minded folks in town. He’s brilliant and sophisticated and worldly and unique, and he’s been living in Gatlin as long as the town folks who loathe him. He’s also a wonderfully loyal father figure to Lena. We love how he loves her.

4. Bookalicio.us:I like the different kinds of paranormal in the book and the way you handled the naming of things and persons with even a little Southern Voodoo thrown in for charm. How did you mesh so many different supernatural elements into one piece without making it over the top?

   Margie: We named our Casters from day one. It was important to us to create our own unique rule set for our own magical universe. We didn’t want to be generic, and we wanted to give our readers a kind of magic that was deeply regional, and tied to the Caster County our book lives in.

5. Bookalicio.us: What is your favorite place to write?

   Kami: In my comfy chair, in complete silence, with a Diet Coke. Extra ice.

   Margie: In the library or in my own comfy chair, also with a Diet Coke and my earphones blasting my mix of the day!

6. Bookalicio.us: Pen and paper? Mac or PC? Why?

   Kami: We’re both Mac girls, though we use more white boards with more complex color-coding that you could possibly imagine.

7. Bookalicio.us: Beautiful Creatures is a book that made it on my short list of favorites for 2009, it almost didn’t make it on there because I hadn’t heard about the book. Usually I get recommendations from literary blogs, and Amazon is always throwing stuff to me I devour. It is kind of hard for me to miss a young adult novel, and I am so glad I didn’t miss this one. How hard has it been marketing a YA book in a sea of others? Teens are statistically
   reading more now and there is so much to choose from. Publishers expect you to be able to market yourself effectively from the beginning now as well.

   Margie: Little, Brown has been incredibly supportive of our book from day one. Our editors, Jen Hunt and Julie Scheina, have always made us feel like a priority, and our publicist Jessica Kaufman is amazing. And the day Amazon picked us for their Top Ten of 2009 and their number one Teen Pick, we were thrown into a bit more of the spotlight than we had ever anticipated. The Warner Brothers movie announcement hitting the day before our book came out was another spotlight, and things just sort of kept rolling from there.

8. Bookalicio.us: How do you feel about book trailers? Have you ever watched one that made you want to buy a book?

   Kami: We love good book trailers. Vania Stoyanova, the photographer who made one of our BC trailers, is so talented that she makes you want to buy any title she makes a trailer for. That’s why we were so happy she made one for us! You can watch her trailer on the homepage of our site, under the reviews. www.BeautifulCreaturestheBook.com

9. Bookalicio.us: What has been the best part of reader reaction for you?

   Margie: It’s amazing to hear people talking about the characters, the town, the story – all of these things that only existed in our heads for so long. We also love love love our librarian readers, so the Morris Debut Award nomination from the YALSA was a special kind of “reader reaction” that we will never forget!

10. Bookalicio.us: Are you going to be a book tour? Release dates in other countries or movie deals (really it should be a movie)?

    Kami: Beautiful Creatures is being published in 25 countries, which is really wonderful. We are going to be on our Southern US book tour from January 18th until the 29th, and then on a more limited northern states book tour from February 20th until the 27th. The movie is going forward in development at Warner Brothers, and we couldn’t be happier about that. For more information on all of the above, be sure to check back at www.BeautifulCreaturestheBook.com – we will be updating the site the whole time we are touring, so you can see the latest BC happenings!

But not right now, right now I could indulge in a moment of triumph. But only a moment.
Because it was just one of those days.

This is better than some old fat guy. Now gimme.

If you love fun vampire fiction, then please give this book a chance! I cannot wait for the next in the series.

The book starts off with Rose on her mission to find Dimitri. She is in Russia and we follow her through her ordeal of trying to find him and monitoring what is up with the Moroi in the area. She is now out of school and not finishing up a rouge dhampir probably never becoming a guardian, but you have to do what you have to do right?

Two of the things that bothered me most were the love story of Rose and Dimitri were kind of ruined for me, and the author kept stressing how McDonald’s in Russia is so different than McDonald’s in America. That really isn’t true. McDonald’s is the same all over the world, I have ate at McDonald’s in Holland, London, and other places. Sometimes there is an added cultural item or two but in the end the Big Mac is the Big Mac. This shouldn’t have bothered me greatly but as I said it was mentioned several times and I really dislike skewed information that is easily researched. To make sure I wasn’t in the wrong I checked with some Russian and Finnish web developer friends of mine and the menu’s are the same there.

I felt the friendships were not as looked after in this addition to the series, although secondary characters in previous books were fleshed out more. I do plan to read the next book and I am anticipating it. I hope to get a release date soon.

Graceling follows Katsa through a coming of age story. She find out at an early age she is graced. Gracelings are born with different color eyes, the king takes in all gracelings and when their grace is revealed usually around 9 or 10 the king then decides if the grace is beneficial to him. If not the child is sent home and lives a horrible life. People naturally fear the graced. Katsa is graced with fighting and killing she is unstoppable. Until she meets Po who is a prince of a strange kingdom, his grace is also fighting and while Katsa wins the battles she has to work hard to overcome. Po’s sister and niece Bitterblue live yet again in another kingdom with the kindest king in the realm but when things start going wrong, Po and Katsa set out to learn the truth. Maybe there is a grace out there that can overcome Katsa.

I gave this book three instead of four stars due to the fact that the language at times fit the setting. Other times it was way too modern and broke me from the story and it took a few pages to get back in. Other than that a delightful read.

Cast begins Tempted right where Hunted left off. Kalona and Neferet are banished from Tulsa and the fledglings red and blue are looking to Zoey to lead them back to the House of Night. Zoey although she still has the major boy problems and too many relationships does grow up a bit in this book and her character becomes mildly likable for me again. I was going to rail against this book also. Although it wasn’t just a rehash of the other novels, I felt it dragged quite a bit. If you aren’t a fan of the series or haven’t read any of the other books, I do not recommend you start, but if you are vampire crazy and reading House of Night then Tempted is not to be missed! The last three chapters brings so much together and a major event happens that I still cannot believe happened, and I never saw it coming! Let me know if you have read it and what you think.

Carrie Ryan created a world many generations after the zombie apocalypse (hey we all know its coming with all the wonky stuff they are doing in labs now) and what life is like for the few who survived the initial outbreak.

Author Carrie Ryan

I gave this 4 out of 5 stars only because I wish we would have learned more of the secrets along the way. So many things were hinted about but left open. Maybe that is resolved in the next book which seems to pick up with Mary’s daughter possibly from the description.

THE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES

Coming March 2010

Gabry lives a quiet life, secure in her town next to the sea and behind the Barrier. She’s content to let her friends dream of the Dark City up the coast while she watches from the top of her lighthouse. Home is all she’s ever known, and all she needs for happiness.

But life after the Return is never safe, and there are threats even the Barrier can’t hold back.

Gabry’s mother thought she left her secrets behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, but like the dead in their world, secrets don’t stay buried. And now, Gabry’s world is crumbling.

One night beyond the Barrier…

One boy Gabry’s known forever and one veiled in mystery…

One reckless moment, and half of Gabry’s generation is dead, the other half imprisoned.

Gabry knows only one thing: if she is to have any hope of a future, she must face the forest of her mother’s past.

The story follows fourteen year old Susie Salmon from her after life as she deals with her rape and brutal murder. She resents being killed and wishes her murder to be brought to justice. She also wishes to relive her first kiss and have many more, she wishes of course to have grown up. We watch her family crumble under the pressure of having a child murdered, her school friends grow up without her. How everything evolves except for Susie who is stuck just watching waiting for her murder to be captured.

This is a lovely story that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and will also make sure you lose some sleep due to the fact you cannot put the book down. Don’t watch the film without buying a copy first!